Review: Falling for a Santini by Melissa Schroeder

Reviewed by Shelly

This is my first story by this author and it probably wasn’t the best choice. This is book 7 in the Santini Family saga and I felt like I was missing parts of the whole. Even with that, it was still a good quick story. Elena Santini is the only girl in the Santini clan but she’s no shrinking violet; she’s a pilot in the Marines. After a family event for one of her brothers and her best friend, Elena finally makes her move on NCIS agent Jethro Thomas, her brother’s best friend. Jethro’s had the hots for Elena for a long time but he’s living by the guy code that you can’t crush on your best friend’s sister. After their first night together, Elena and JT find it impossible to stay away from each other.

There’s a few personality traits that are explained by saying he/she is a ‘Santini’ and that’s all we get. I don’t have a good sense of the personality of all of the family members but what I did find out I liked well enough. I got the sense that the family is very close knit, as some big families tend to be.

Elena’s has had a thing for JT for as long as he’s been besties with her brother, Anthony, and she’s unsuspecting of JT’s reciprocal feelings. JT’s has a lot on the line if he decides to get involved with Elena. I liked both of these characters. As the only daughter in the Santini family, Elena’s dealt a hard task because no matter how much she is capable of taking care of herself, one (or more) of the brothers has a better idea for how that will happen. I can’t even blame all of the interfering on the kids because their parents were still the head of the family and set the ground rules for most of their interactions – a few laugh out loud moments. So although I never felt sorry for Elena, she didn’t have self-pity either because she gave as good as she got, I understood her woe in trying to have some semblance of privacy from her brothers.

JT – there’s nothing not to like about him. He cared about Elena and it showed. He also cared about his friendships and relationships with other members of her family and didn’t want to jeopardize any of it. His sincerity to maintain those was loud and clear. There’s a no nonsense aspect of Elena’s and JT’s relationship that was refreshing. No playing games unless there were in the bedroom and that was a-okay.

There’s a tad bit of action with one of the cases that JT worked as an NCIS agent where Elena’s skills were put to the test – wow! I would gladly continue to read this series if the other installments are as fun as this.